Marvel Rivals players have suspected for some time that the game has ditched skill-based matchmaking, or SBMM, in favor of something called engagement optimized matchmaking, or EOMM. The devs at NetEase haven't fully explained how the matchmaking system works, but it seems that's about to change in the near future.
"Matchmaking is a complex system," creative director Guangyun Chen explains in an interview with YouTube channel Rivals Assembled, "and we are preparing a video to talk about all the matchmaking things. So stay tuned. Maybe in two weeks."
In theory, SBMM should match players of roughly equal skill levels together, which is the system players have come to expect from most modern online shooters. With that said, it's proven controversial in titles like Call of Duty, where some players would prefer to test their skills in a genuine free-for-all – or simply stomp less skilled opponents – without being beholden to how the hidden algorithm judges their skill.
EOMM takes the algorithms a step much further. Instead of simply being matched against players of similar skill, EOMM would, as the name implies, attempt to "optimize" your "engagement." If you're going on a losing streak, EOMM might throw you some bad opponents to keep you from turning off the game in a fit of rage. Similarly, it might give you some tougher enemies if it thinks you're going to get bored on a big win streak.
The exact details of how these systems work in online games is generally kept pretty mysterious, and that's by design – if players knew exactly when they'd be getting their proverbial bits of cheese, they might be less compelled to spend their evenings in the controlled rat mazes of a matchmaking pool. Whichever form of matchmaking Marvel Rivals favors, it seems we're set to know a whole lot more soon.
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